A time to complete New Orleans' master plan

Crafting a master plan to guide New Orleans' redevelopment for the next two decades is both logistically complex and politically difficult. It demands the participation of varied, and often conflicting, constituencies and the study of many variables, particularly in a city as old as ours that is also recovering from disaster.

By now, the City Planning Commission was supposed to have endorsed the document's final draft and submitted it for City Council consideration. Commission members, however, are still submitting comments to professional planners, and a final draft may not be ready until next month.

The commission then wants to give the public a month to review the document before holding hearings and voting on it. That public comment period is vital, so the draft of a master plan is unlikely to reach the council until at least late October or November.

The council will then have 90 days to review it, gather additional public input and vote. If council members propose any changes, the planning commission would have to review them as well. Clearly, the process could stretch into May of next year, when a new mayor and council take office.

That's worrisome.

Transitions of that magnitude have not been kind to politically difficult efforts such as the creation of a master plan. Many a good initiative has languished or been severely delayed because a new administration failed to adopt it as its own. No one can know if that would be the case with the master plan, and the matter will surely be an issue during the upcoming election season.

But New Orleanians last fall approved the process to create the plan and voted to give the final product the force of law. That was an expression of how strongly city residents feel about ending the inconsistent and unfair process that allowed many land decisions in the past to be based on political whim. It's important, then, that planners and current city officials work judiciously to complete the effort in this term.

Some council members have expressed confidence that they can complete the effort while giving the public ample chance to comment. That should be the goal.

Including the separate Unified New Orleans Plan produced after Hurricane Katrina, some of which is being folded into the current master plan process, the city has invested significant resources in crafting a long-term blueprint. In addition, thousands of New Orleanians have participated in planning sessions and public hearings to make sure their views are considered.

Those residents expect their time and effort to yield results. The best way for city officials to honor the contributions residents have made to the planning process is to work diligently to complete the master plan before their term is up.